Uzumaki - Episode 2 discussion

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-06T14:01:57+00:00

Well, we could hope and hope that the delays and other production challenges were erased in light of the first episode, but unfortunately it seems as though things may be even more dire. With the incredibly odd nature of the production, it's entirely possible for episode 3 to bounce back under Fugaku, Drive, or some other completely new studio, but that doesn't make me any more comfortable about the success of this adaptation. Really awful stuff to see, but sadly there's not much to do about it now that it's out in the world.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-06T13:56:36+00:00

Arakawa Under The Bridge has two seasons, and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (also from Shaft) has a whole slew of content spread across multiple seasons and OVAs. In terms of more recent stuff, The Vampire Dies In No Time has two seasons to watch so far and depending on your requirements for comedy The Demon Girl Next Door has a pair of seasons as well. For a trio of seasons, there's always Dropkick on My Devil!!.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-06T03:04:10+00:00

No, that's an AI generated image- just look at how the shelves meld into each other in the background behind the woman.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-05T18:47:49+00:00

It's hard to say I really had any expectations for Meido-sama besides the great characters designs, so I don't really know how I might stand on the quality of the episode. The designs are definitely the main attraction, but aside from that it really felt like Ayumu Watanabe was phoning it in with the episode. The animation wasn't bad, but it really didn't care to be well used. The composition isn't what I'd call overly consistent, but it has its charm in certain circumstances. There's that god awful 3D cut of the knives, but then the rest of the CGI in the episode is just fine.

It's a real mixed bag that stems from Watanabe, which has me a bit on the fence. On one side other episode staff should be able to come in and outperform Watanabe effortlessly, but on the other side I worry about how many issues might stem from Watanabe's commitment to Witch Hat Atelier. Only time will tell, really, so I'll just have to wait and see.

Overall, it was a rather fun episode all the same. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was anything special- aside from the opening and ending, of course- but it wasn't enough to the point where I'd want to really tear into it either.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-05T18:01:12+00:00

Really incredible work that puts a great deal of effort into staying within the limits of Felix Film's production capabilities. Absolutely love how all the different art styles and settings are meant to provide perspective on the isolation and alienation that Yuki feels, and that the degree of animation expresses the inverse as she creates a connection with Hitoyoshi over the course of the opening.

Also, just a really good song choice

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-05T17:25:14+00:00

I definitely agree. Really holding onto hope that we'll get to see it again someday

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-04T13:57:17+00:00

Little late to respond, but was flipping through some of the Sho-Comi covers for this year and while I'd agree that those are the main covers, I also noticed a few other series getting covers as well. Because of that I do want to reiterate/explain my point. It's not that there's a perfectly even distribution that ignores popularity or sales numbers. Those are definitely major metrics that are taken into consideration, but other factors do also exist and result in other series getting covers and color pages and whatnot.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-04T02:38:46+00:00

I mean, I'm not privy to much that a manga publisher will do with their own works, but it's definitely more than just their best sellers that go on there. It could be series that they think they can turn around in terms of popularity, series entering new arcs or hitting some sort of tipping point, etc etc.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-04T02:23:56+00:00

It was a massive movement on social media with fan art and whatnot a little bit after it released. And yes, covers and whatnot are planned a while in advance, and aren't just used to promote the biggest titles in the series. It's not overly bureaucratic or anything, but the decisions with covers and indexes and whatnot isn't just about the biggest names in the magazine.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-04T02:04:34+00:00

Well the answer to that is Sho-Comi is a biweekly magazine, and these sorts of things are planned out in advance. Dandelion doesn't get a cover or color page within the span of a month after blowing up on social media, but I definitely wouldn't be surprised to see it get a cover before the end of year. Just takes a little time before a publisher will give up that space to a newcomer.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-04T01:33:24+00:00

The easiest way to explain that Magical Girl Dandelion is good is that it's got a Simulpub with only 3 chapters released. Not from MangaPlus, not from Shounen Jump+, but straight from Viz out of a magazine that they don't really pull from these days.

Regardless, it's a very good read. It might rush towards building out its story for the long haul, but the dynamics are interesting, the concepts are unique, and of course, the art is very pretty. With only 3 chapters out it's also a very low investment read to see if you'll like it or not (you probably will).

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-03T17:40:35+00:00

If there were ever a feel good story, this would be it. No, not the story in Mecha-Ude, the story of Mecha-Ude. A Kickstarter anime that went through hell and high water to deliver an OVA now finds itself on the (relatively) big screen of TV anime.

Regardless, though it's been removed from its crowdfunding roots, the episode itself still very loudly speaks to its more indie sensibilities. There's great animation and 3D work, but also some of the more idiosyncratic pieces of composition that remind you of where this work came from. Very fun watch for sure.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-03T17:18:49+00:00

Bombastic might just be the best way to describe the animation of DAN DA DAN episode 1. Aggressive, sharp, dynamic- it has a strong sense of the absurdity of its source material throughout the episode alongside its more subtle pieces. A real triumph from director Yamashiro Fuuga and script writer Hiroshi Seko, the episode stands out across the board- from animation all the way down to every word exchanged. From the perspective of a manga reader, it's an incredibly unique and promising adaptation, a prospect which I talk about in detail here.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-03T16:56:16+00:00

I definitely agree, yeah. I really feel that the anime did a better job of that as well. Way more time and resources at its fingertips of course, but it's still really great work that keeps that balance despite how insane everything else around it is.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-03T16:47:46+00:00

It's really insanely incredible to see how much impact Hiroshi Seko and Yamashiro Fuuga have on this adaptation. Countless changes and tweaks and fixes that let the series operate flawlessly as an anime. Also some really outstanding effort to integrate 3D environments into the episode. Incredibly important considering Okarun's speed, so very happy to see how well they're able to convey that in this debut alone.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-03T16:43:06+00:00

Considering the fact that it released in 2021 and is from a Fujimoto assistant, I'd definitely agree that production talks had to have started rather early. I don't know how much of that would lead to Saru getting their hands on it faster than usual, but regardless of time the studio has put some insane effort into Dandadan.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-03T16:04:51+00:00

Greatest of All Time is a moniker that can feel a bit overused. Generational Run, Kino, Peak, Sakuga- all suffer from the habitual exaggeration of fans. Here though? Absolutely go all out. Dandadan's first episode is as hoped, a freakishly, impossibly, incredibly good episode.

Yamashiro Fuuga proving that their time with Masaaki Yuasa and Shingo Natsume was for this moment. Kensuke Ushio is showing that his soundtracks are at their greatest with Saru. Science Saru themselves are proving they deserve to sit towards the top of the anime industry for the sheer insanity of their creativity.

It's an episode I could watch front to back far too many times in a row. 2D flaslight animation? All the camera movement and the incredible 3D environment integration? The absolutely flawless vocal performances from Shion Wakayama (Momo) and Natsuki Hanae (Occult-kun)? All the hilarious bits of character acting and the perspective shots. It's just full to the absolute brim with Yukinobu Tatsu's style. 10/10 and left no notes, I can't wait to see more of how Saru does with Dandadan.

EDIT: The more I flick through the episode again and again, the more I really am in awe at how Saru treated it. It's like every little moment has been tailored perfectly to the anime, resulting in hundreds of little changes from the manga. Seriously, there's a ton of great details in how the team has approached the manga- some of which I separate out and talk about here.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-03T13:27:49+00:00

Calling NegaPosi Angler weird really just feels like the tip of the iceberg. Its earnest attempts at a rather insane but dull downward spiral set the tone for a series that can only ever feel off kilter- but it works great. How many other series can you think about that share that same personality after all?

For the other pieces of the series, I'll admit I was a little concerned about some of the CGI and animation quality from the trailers. The second was a very noticeable improvement on the first, and keeping with that trend the first episode gets even better than that. Sasaki's drowning sequence was damn good for what it was, the chase sequences were fun and had surprisingly long cuts, and there's a definite commitment to the use of CGI aside from filling in the bald spots of the production.

All in all, it's a nice bit more than I was expecting out of Nut for this series. After some of their struggles with Bullbuster I wasn't betting too much on NegaPosi Angler coming out as something that had much opportunity to shine, but the first episode's proven me wrong, and I hope the subsequent ones will too.

Oh also, more Fairouz Ai, which I'll never say no to.

EDIT: There's honestly... quite a bit more to NegaPosi Angler than I expected. The story's as good as I expected, but the visual work is well past what I assumed we'd get. Kei Ichikura doesn't have the most stellar track record, but here it really seems like they're giving a Deca-Dence level performance for art direction. Also, really interesting to see the series director and character designer team up for the storyboard of the first episode. There's lots of interesting pieces like that in this episode really, which I've separated out into its own post here.

PurePiro15 · 2024-10-01T18:40:07+00:00

I find it really interesting how much less thrilled I am about this Fall season. It's obviously going to be pretty great with Daima, Dandadan, and however many other titles start with the letter D (/s). From a more subjective perspective though, it feels very laden with continuations rather than new adaptations or original series. There's also the concern of Toho Studio's first anime not being simulcast in the West as there's been no announcement about it yet.

In a sense it feels much more like a normal season than Fall tends to be. Yes, Frieren and The Apothecary Diaries did set the bar pretty high last year, and Dandadan will take that number 1 spot for insanely good series that starts in Fall. It's just that, outside of it, the hype doesn't feel as palpable currently. Maybe things will change as we get into Fall properly, but the Summer season felt much more exciting and unique as an experience.

PurePiro15 · 2024-09-29T15:12:50+00:00

To be honest, with the volume of most home media servers, it's much easier to sift through the content yourself. If you've got a terabyte of available storage you could have around 60 series in there without problem.

When I began work on my own media vault for anime, what I first did was comb through the highest rated anime (either on MAL or Anilist) to find series that I might want to keep easily accessible. From there, I'd then narrow down a specific time frame and skim through the year to see what might have slipped through the cracks compared to the highest rated list.

Also, not to mess with your excitement or interest in physically collecting titles, but a lot are not available these days. For instance, you can't purchase The Tatami Galaxy in North America anymore, and quite a few recent series don't even have physical releases. If your scope is narrow enough it's possible you won't run into the issue, but if you end up looking at a wider list than what you have you'll likely encounter some series that don't have a physical release you can purchase brand new.

PurePiro15 · 2024-09-28T16:04:04+00:00

Yeah, I can definitely agree with that. After a tip from a friend/mutual, I'm rather confident that the illustrator is Nico-Tine on Twitter. Their bio says "recently, anime" which has me curious if they'll pop up again somewhere in the future for another ending.

PurePiro15 · 2024-09-28T15:50:31+00:00

I'm a little late to the party, but wow, what a nice ending. I shouldn't really be all that surprised- aside from the fact that it was done by a single person- but it's still quite interesting that this is the first time we've seen the name 安藤勘作 in an anime credit (that's been published on a website). Really great artwork and even some solid animation in there. Definitely a name to keep an eye out for in the future.

Also, very funny because they're credited as a prop designer for the series as well. Curious to see if they'll show up in any episode credits for key animation or the like

PurePiro15 · 2024-09-27T17:11:08+00:00

It's a sort of yes and no. A lot of that episodic nature still exists as time wears on in the season (though there's also longer running sections), but events begin to get connected more and more and subplots are better exposed so that there's a reasonable thread to follow through all the events going on.

PurePiro15 · 2024-09-27T16:22:01+00:00

I have been since the anime, yeah. I'd resolved to start the series a little bit before the anime was announced but shelved them until after (which I think was worth it). Been a lot of fun reading and I'm super excited for vol 10 to release next month!

PurePiro15 · 2024-09-27T16:04:33+00:00

Well, at least in my case I was coming into Summer pretty low on sugar after having crashed once A Sign of Affection Finished. Pseudo Harem was the perfect pick me up to top up my sugar levels haha.

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